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Kubota
Daimyo Kubota was a male human aristocrat and the head of House Kubota. He led several noble houses in abandoning Azure City on the eve of battle of Azure City over a disagreement with Lord Hinjo and Roy Greenhilt regarding how best to address the impending threat of Xykon.Comic #414, "Noble is Goodble" On Kubota's orders, both a pair of ninjasComic #453, "Heck of a Fight" and a convict released to fight for the cityComic #435, "Amoral Dilemma" tried (and failed) to assassinate Hinjo during the chaos of the battle. Due to the ruling of the lone magistrate to escape the fall of the city, Hinjo was unable to arrest Kubota for these actions.Comic #503, "Surreptitious Admirer" As Kubota's ships sailed with the fleet of refugees leaving the city, he made several more attempts on Lord Hinjo's life using charmed aquatic monsters and his own ninja, Therkla.Comic #506, "Flanking Crush" Hinjo described Kubota as the kind of man who would not care whether all of Azure City fell to the forces of evil, just so long as he came out of it with his power intact. However, Kubota actually was more actively villainous than even Hinjo suspected, conspiring with devils to place himself on Azure City's throne.Comic #509, "It Has Flowers, Hearts, and a DC 30 Lock"Comic #631, "Who Doesn't Get Ten of These a Week?" Kubota had an appreciation for the finer things in life, from caviar to imported rugs, which extends to a dim view of commoners like Kazumi Kato and her husband Daigo. While he surrendered to Elan following the murder of Therkla,Comic #594,Rock the Boat" he seemed infinitely confident of the aristocratic countermeasures he had plotted out, assuming that any trial will turn into a circus to make Hinjo look even worse, in part due to a non specified "aristocrat-friendly prestige class that grants the extraodinary ability to fool magical lie detection". All his bragging was for naught; Kubota never even got to trial, thanks to a Disintegrate spell from an annoyed and trance-deprived Vaarsuvius. This was followed with Gust of Wind, which effectively swept Kubota's remains into the sea, thus preventing him from being resurrected.Comic #595, "Trial of the Century" Vaarsuvius then admitted to not even knowing the man's name or precisely what he had done wrong, simply that, as Elan's prisoner, he was most likely a villain of some sort, and that the trial Kubota mentioned would distract from Vaarsuvius' research. Elan did not approve of the killing, comparing to it something Belkar would have done.Comic #596, "Convenience Story" Powers and Abilities * Aristocrat: Kubota's base class is the Aristocrat NPC class, which is generally weak when compared to PC classes. * Unnamed Prestige Class: Kubota strongly implies that he has levels in a prestige class in addition to his base class, making him more powerful. The class must be "artistocrat-friendly", meaning the entry requirements could be met by an Aristocrat in terms of not requiring spell-casting ability and using skills which an Aristocrat has access to. As an NPC, he cannot multiclass to a PC base class. According to Kubota, it also "grants the extraordinary ability to fool magical lie detection." There are two primary candidates for this class: ** Assassin: The prerequisites for Assassin are: evil alignment, Disguise 4, Hide 8, Move Silently 8, and killing someone for the purposes of joining the class. Disguise is an in-class skill for Aristocrat, but Kubota would have had to buy the other two at double cost, for a total of 36 skill points. If Kubota had 12-18 Intelligence (which governs skill points for Aristocrats) he could have put together the prerequisites at Aristocrat level 2-4. Assassins at 7th level gain access to the Glibness spell which allows them to avoid lie detection or forced truth telling. They also gain proficiency in poison use, which Kubota has shown. This would make Kubuta a 2+/7+ Aristocrat/Assassin. ** Spymaster: The 2005 Complete Adventurer includes the Spymaster prestige class. The prerequisites are: Bluff 8, Diplomacy 4, Disguise 8, Forgery 4, Gather Information 4, Sense Motive 4. As well as the Skill Focus (Bluff) Feat. All of the required skills are in-class, for a total of 32 skill points and one feat. Thus he could have taken this class at Aristocrat level 1-3, making the same assumption about Int. The Spymaster has two relevant abilities to foil lies. If "Kubota" is in fact a cover identity, the Deep Cover ability could shield his lies from magical detection. However, if we assume Kubota is his real identity he would need the 10th level Mind Blank power to foil lie detection. That would make Kubota a 1+/10 Aristocrat/Spymaster. Other Apperances * Kubota appeared in the bonus digital comic "Spoiler Alert", published in February 2015, featuring Therkla. This story was republished in the 2018 ''Good Deeds Gone Unpunished''.'' * Kubota may appear at Shojo's funeral in the ''War and XPs bonus strip #416a, "Requiem for a 14th-Level Aristocrat". There is a lone person in the empty seats at the funeral with a topknot in Kubota's style. However, the timing of this appearance is complicated by Kubota's apparance in #414, where he tells Hinjo he is going to his junk. Also the character is not wearing Kubota's usual pauldrons. Alternatively, this character might be one of the soon-to-be leaders of the Azurite Resistance. References Category:Characters Category:Humans Category:Dead Characters Category:Males Category:Aristocrats Category:Lawful Evil Characters Category:Lawful Characters Category:Evil Characters Category:Inhabitants of Azure City